World lacks 4 Million Health Workers by BBC News, Save the Children, UNFPA 12:17pm 7th Apr, 2006   6 April 2006 (BBC News)    Four million health workers are needed to combat the "chronic shortage" around the world, a report from the World Health Organization has warned.    Fifty-seven countries have a serious shortage of health workers, affecting children"s health, pregnancy care and access to treatment, it said. Thirty-six of these countries are in sub-Saharan Africa.    The WHO"s World Health Report 2006 said the shortage affected how diseases such as HIV/Aids could be tackled. It says that at least 1.3 billion people worldwide lack access to the most basic healthcare, often because there is no health worker.    The burden is greatest in countries overwhelmed by poverty and disease where these health workers are needed most. Sub-Saharan Africa has 11% of the world"s population and 24% of the global burden of disease but only 3% of the world"s health workers.    A lack of personnel, combined with a lack of training and knowledge, is also a major obstacle for health systems as they attempt to respond effectively to chronic diseases and bird flu.    The WHO says life expectancies in the poorest countries are half of those in the richest nations. It says each country needs to improve the way in which it plans for, educates and employs its doctors, nurses and support staff, the report says and sets out a 10-year plan to address the crisis.    It calls for national leaders to urgently formulate and implement country strategies for the health workforce, backed by international donor assistance.    Infectious diseases and complications of pregnancy and delivery cause at least 10 million deaths each year.    The WHO says there is clear evidence that having a higher ratio of health workers to people increases boosts infant, child and maternal survival.    Dr Timothy Evans, WHO Assistant Director-General, said: "Not enough health workers are being trained or recruited where they are most needed. "And increasing numbers are joining a brain drain of qualified professionals who are migrating to better-paid jobs in richer countries, whether those countries are near neighbours or wealthy industrialised nations. "Such countries are likely to attract even more foreign staff because of their ageing populations, who will need more long-term, chronic care."    The WHO is calling for more direct investment in the training and support of health workers. It says health budgets should increase by at least US$10 per person per year in the 57 countries with severe shortages, to educate and pay for the four million health workers needed.    National and international funding would be needed to achieve this goal. The report says that meeting that target within 20 years is "ambitious but reasonable".    06/04/2006    IMF criticized for failing to back healthcare for African children.    On World Heath Day (7th April) Save the Children UK is calling on the International Monetary Fund to end policies that prevent African governments from recruiting nurses and doctors.    At a recent conference co-organised by Save the Children, African health officials stressed that IMF spending targets are one of the critical blocks to the improvement of health services in their countries.    Chronic under-investment has led to collapsing health systems, appalling and unsafe working conditions for health professionals, and an unfair distribution of health workers between rich and poor countries.    Jasmine Whitbread, Save the Children UK’s Chief Executive said: “It is shameful that thousands of children across Africa continue to die every day from diarrhoea, malaria and measles. This is primarily because hospitals and clinics suffer from under-investment, migration of doctors and nurses, and crippling restrictions on spending imposed by the IMF. When African professionals got together at the end of last month, one of their biggest demands was that the IMF and other international financial institutions stop preventing finance ministers from increasing vital funding for health systems to pay for salaries, training and wages”.    Dr Abdoulaye Bagnou, Co-ordinator in the Prime Minister’s Office, Niger, told the conference: “In Niger, we have a number of doctors, nurses and midwives who have no job in the health sector. Because of the restrictions imposed by the International Monetary Fund, our government cannot hire these people. It is a waste of resources”. Dr Bagnou continued, “In some areas, we have lost all our experts. We cannot recruit new staff. The World Bank and The IMF control our expenses”.    Health workers trained in Africa continue to migrate to the UK. Since 1998, the UK has saved £65 million in NHS training costs through recruitment of Ghanaian doctors alone. Save the Children is calling on Gordon Brown to pay a fair price in compensation to developing countries, and use his influence with the IMF to ask them to work with country governments to help them spend what is needed on health and education.    07/04/2006    Shortage of midwives to be tackled urgently says UNFPA for World Health Day    Today, UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, joins the World Health Organization in commemorating World Health Day by honouring the global health workforce. We join a chorus of voices in paying tribute to the health workers in every country who dedicate their lives to the well-being of others.    Today, we would like to pay a special tribute to midwives. These skilled health workers play a central role in saving the lives and improving the health of mothers and infants around the world. Yet, despite their importance, they often face poor working conditions, inadequate supplies and support and, as a female health workforce, are subject to gender discrimination. To make matters worse, there is a shortage of midwives in many countries. Today, 700,000 more midwives are needed to provide universal access to skilled care at birth. Addressing this shortage through education, training and deployment to underserved areas would bring us much closer to achieving the Millennium Development Goal of improving maternal health.    Concerted efforts are urgently needed to solve the shortage of midwives and other health workers—a shortage that is severe in the poorest countries, putting the lives of millions of people at risk. The brain drain of health workers from the developing world is an urgent issue that deserves a collective response.    Today on World Health Day, let us pledge to work together to increase investment in the health sector, including sexual and reproductive health. Let us join hands in every country for a health system with staff that is available, sufficient in numbers and skills, and responsive to the communities they serve.
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